changer. is the firstpresidentialdebateit?>>> his back now against thewall,romneyisbehind in all of our background polls. the candidate presses for a rebound. >> we do not want four more years of where we've been. i represent a different path. >>> president obama meantime tries to seize the moment as early voting begins around the country, offering a closing argument. >> when i took office, we were losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month and were mired in a rut. today i believe that as a nation we are moving forward again. >> this morning, the state of the race. a debate preview, and a look at the issues that will sway undecided voters. with us, republican governor of new jersey, the keynoter at the gop convention, chris christie. and for the obama campaign, the architect of his 2008 run, now white house senior adviser david plouffe. finally, insights and analysis from our political roundtable. joining us, conservative activist and founder of the faith and freedom coalition ralph reed. former democratic governor of pennsylvania ed rendell. anchor of bbc's "world news america" katty ka

? there is so much information. and this was such a sconstantsubstantivivedebatebetweenromneyandthe president. you can't score that at all. there is an initial impression and a second impression that develops over time. how does that factor? we've seen it. they are going to try to grind down romney on the idea that he is a chia chameleon, who do you trust, to he really performed well. >> well, the group of undecideds showed that they didn't necessarily change their vote one way or the other. i think when you have -- paul ryan is not going to be able to do what mitt romney did. he was the chairman of the budget committee, for goodness sakes. it would be an affront to him to make up all of these numbers. >> let me switch to a different performance this week that got a lot of attention. i had the chance to sit down with a familiar face on this program, arnold schwarzenegger, former governor of california. recent revelations about his personal conduct have hurt his reputation, to say the very least. you have noticed he's been out this week with a new book called "total recall:my

day. has the race taken a new turn? what a differenceadebatemakes.>> mr. president, you're entitled to your own airplane and house but not to your own facts. >> romney delivers. the president tries to recover. >> when i got off the stage, i met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be mitt romney. >> the economy is again the central focus. the new jobs numbers drop the unm employment rate below 9%. >> we have made too much progress. >> a sign of recovery as the voters head to the polls. we cover it all this morning. the policy fight emerging from the debate and the policy. what does the debate reveal about these two men? >>> plus, our preview of the vice presidential debate this coming week. this morning, a special panel. obama campaign senior adviser robert gibbs. former republican presidential candidate newt gingrich. hilary rosen. mike murphy. and nbc's chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd. >>> and finally, what you haven't heard from arnold schwarzenegger this week. a revealing conversation with the former california governor. he talks